Critical Factors Influencing E-Government Adoption in India: An Investigation of the Citizens' Perspectives

2. E-Government In India

E‐government originated in India during the 1970’s with a focus on automation and interconnection in the areas of defence, economic monitoring, planning, elections, census, tax administration, etc. In 1980’s, National Informatics Center (NIC) took a significant stride by connecting all the district headquarters through ICT. From the 1990’s, e‐ government has witnessed the use of ICT for wider applications with emphasis on connectivity, setting up systems for information processing and delivering services. The applications include automation in individual departments, electronic file handling, public grievance systems, payment of bills and taxes etc. Keeping in mind the various positive impacts of e‐governance, the Government of India approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) on May 18, 2006¹. The plan was formulated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The aim of NeGP is to make all government services accessible to the common man and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man.